A New Life
by ilrahcbow
Summary: Eren Jaeger gets killed at the merciless hands of a titan-all to save Captain Levi. Now Levi, feeling responsible for the boy's death, takes the initiative to try and bring Eren back to life. But is bringing back the dead always a good idea?
1. Chapter 1

Rain continued to pour down, the grass beginning to wilt beneath the intense shower of water that apparently showed no sign of clearing up. Through the heavy cascade of rain, part of the scout regiment rode, clustered in a tight group, with Captain Levi leading them. The man's hood moved back and forth with the constant jerking of the horse beneath him, fat droplets of water trickling down his face. He turned his head over his shoulder and called out to the rest of the group "Less than a mile now! Stay close!" For there had been a wave of titans spotted and part of the regiment had been pulled away from their prior mission in order to settle this.  
A few more minutes of riding steadily forwards and through the thick mist created by the torrential rain, dark shapes began to emerge in the distance, shifting shadows that morphed this way and that, growing ever taller as the group approached. Levi suddenly tugged at the reins of his horse, the animal clumsily skidding to a halt in the sopping mud. He turned back to the group. "There they are. Now, prepare yourselves to attack. We can't be sure how many are out there-in this weather its impossible to tell." he said, pulling down his hood. "Hanje, Krista, tackle the left. Jean, Ymir, tackle the right."  
"Can't I stay with Krista?" Ymir interjected.  
"No." Levi responded curtly, turning his horse back around. "Now go. Eren, you'll take the middle with me. Everyone meet on the other side-good luck." The man dug the heels of his boots into the horse's side, spurring it onwards. Everyone else obeyed Levi's command and followed their given route. Eren, with slight hesitation, followed the captain, leading his horse straight ahead. He rode close behind Levi and stayed silent, craning his neck up as the sketchy silhouettes before them soon shifted nearer and nearer. Eventually a huge arm cut through the sheet of rain, sweeping recklessly through the air.  
"Captain!" Eren cried, out of instinct. Levi nimbly veered his horse away, the blow avoiding him by a mile. He pulled back in line again and exchanged glances with Eren.  
"Leave the horses now! They've seen us-so we have to fight!" he called, springing from the saddle and into the air, disappearing through the thick mist. Eren watched, frozen for a moment, before regaining his senses and leaping from the horse, using the gear to propel him upwards, cutting through the heavy rain. He used his hands as shields against the rain that pounded against his face. As he passed through the air, he caught glimpses of titans falling to the ground one by one, the small silhouettes of his other comrades zipping back and forth. He latched onto a tall, dark haired titan which glared back at him with a venomous look. Eren used his purchase on the titan's chest to swing round and run up its back, slashing its nape. The titan fell limp and dropped to the ground. Eren rolled off the creature and onto the floor. He lifted his head, his face dripping with mud and looked up in horror, to find another titan towering over him, a sickening grin on it's face. The boy edged backwards in fear, his legs too numb from the fall to even stand. Levi meanwhile, who had successfully slaughtered a handful of titans, caught glimpse of the scene below and with a gasp, rushed over with a propel of his gear. He slid in front of Eren, scooping him up with one hand and flew with him through the air, Eren tightly under the other's arm. Levi placed Eren on a high branch of a tree, out of harms way.  
"Stay there and don't try to get down." he said coldly, leaping back down and latching onto another titan. Upon killing that titan, Levi caught sight of Hanje. The woman turned her head and nimbly made her way over.  
"I don't understand! There's so many of them! How are we going to get rid of them all!"  
"I don't know. We'll just have to persevere until every last one of these bastards are finished."  
"Where's Eren?"  
"He got hurt and I can't risk his life in the hands of these titans. So I got him to safety." he explained bluntly, before disappearing off into the rain. After what seemed like hours, Levi found himself at a loss-the wave of titans were showing no sign of slowing down. It was as if they were spawning infinitely! He decided, at this rate, they would never accomplish anything and someone would inevitably get hurt. And so, stopping on one of the tree branches, he clumsily fired a flare with wet and numb hands. Red smoke drifted into the air. A few minutes later and the rest of the squad arrived at the tree. "We're going to need to come up with a new strategy. There's too many of them and at this rate we'll never get all of th-" He suddenly stopped, scanning the small group before him. "Wait...where's Jean!" he cried. He looked off ahead, only to find, to his horror, Jean, helpless in a titan's grasp. He leaped down from the tree and fired his gear, propelling himself forwards. He latched the gear to the titan's face and slashed its wrists, slicing them clean off. Jean fell to the ground and sprinted quickly away, rejoining the others in the tree. All looked on as Levi's gear came loose from the titan's faces he made to swing round and cut its nape. The man let out a grunt and fell to the ground with a hard thud. He winced in pain and lay sprawled in the mud. God dammit. The rain must have made his gear slip from its position. His back fizzed with pain, his whole chest tightening. This was it. He was going to die. He watched through narrowed eyes, clenching his teeth, as the titan hungrily leaned closer to pluck him from the floor. A giant hand reached out. Just then, a figure emerged from nowhere and stood in front of Levi. Eren turned his head, a sad and fading glint in his eye, a small smile on his face. "Forgive me." Levi's eyes widened in horror as the titan grabbed Eren instead. As the creature brought Eren to its mouth, all sense returned to the man and he stumbled to his feet and leapt into the air, slashing its nape with a desperate and faltered cry. The titan fell to the ground and Levi tumbled to the floor with it. He quickly lifted his head and struggled to standing, rushing round to find Eren lying lifelessly on the ground, still clasped like a prize in the titan's decomposing hand. A small pool of blood surrounded the boy from underneath. The man stumbled back, almost choking and clasped a hand to his mouth. What had he done...

 **End of Chapter 1**

 **A/N: And there you have it! Chapter 1~Any feedback is much appreciated! Stay tuned for the next chapter, coming soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

Levi lay facing the ceiling, the pale moonlight casting rectangles on the walls from the panes of glass. His eyes were wide, his face pale and dotted with small scuffs from earlier. The man could still not quite comprehend the situation he now found himself in. Eren was dead. Dead. He would never smile again. He would never open those audacious and enchanting green eyes ever again. Levi's stomach churned. He wanted to throw up. His hands lay draped over the sides of the bed, the oxygen slowly draining from his fingers. He sat up as his hands began to fizz. With a small growl, he shook them and stood up. He left his room silently, save he were to wake any of the other's up, and made his way to the storage cupboard downstairs. There, he retrieved a rusty oil lantern and refilled it with some paraffin. Upon lighting the lantern, Levi then made his way into Hanje's room, creeping round to her bedside and slowly opening one of the drawers. The drawer made a slight creak, disturbing the girl. Levi looked up and bit his lip as she groaned a little, shifting in her sleep. She settled back down again, to the man's relief, and Levi promptly searched around in the drawer, eventually finding purchase on the small gold key.  
The basement was where all the newly dead bodies were held. It acted as a kind of post-mortem that Hanje often used to carry out all kinds of experiments with. This was also where the body of Eren Jaeger had been taken to. Levi fumbled with one hand to remove the key from his pocket, the other hand holding the lantern. The door swung slowly open, revealing expansive darkness beyond, only the immediate area being illuminated. Levi took a deep breath and entered the room. It didn't take long to find the boy's body. Levi stood in silence, looking on with a placid expression. Eren's face had turned almost white, the wounds all over his face glimmering in the soft orange light. His hair fell over his eyes, lying in messy clumps, mixed with dried up mud and blood. His lips had lost their warm colour and were dry, cracked grooves running all along them. His eyes were closed, still red from where he had been crying in his last moments. Levi looked at the boy with a steady eyes before his face crumpled and he dropped to his knees with a sharp sob. He doubled over, pieces of hair falling one by one over his face. Tears rolled down his cheeks, one after the other, catching the soft light of the lantern. He brought two trembling hands to his face to muffle his cries before resting his forehead on Eren's chest. "I-I...this is my fault...you're dead because I couldn't save you in time...you're dead because of my incapability to save _myself_!" he choked on his tears. "I should have died instead of you...I deserved to die more than you ever did..." he trailed off, no louder than a whisper. Levi gritted his teeth, his eyebrows wavering-but no matter how hard he tried to contain himself, the tears would not cease.

The next morning, Hanje awoke in confusion, upon finding no sign of Levi anywhere. Everyone else was still asleep and she didn't want to wake them to ask of his whereabouts. As a last resort, she headed down to the basement and was amazed to find it unlocked, the door wide open. At the back of the room, she could see the small silhouette of the man, hunched over one of the bodies, the dying light of the lantern flickering beside him. "Levi?" The man lifted his head slowly, huge purple rings under his red, swollen eyes. "H-how long have you...been down here..." She trailed off, standing before him. Levi shook his head, unable to even speak. He opened his mouth to speak. A small squeak died on his lips. "Hanje..." he whispered, his gaze not leaving Eren.  
"Levi...what is it?" she said, bending down and resting a hand on the other's shoulder. Levi swallowed, his breath hitching and catching with every inhalation. He suddenly whipped his head up and looked to Hanje with wild and desperate eyes, his pupils shimmering with tears that streamed down his pale face.  
"Hanje, you have to do something!" he cried in a faltered and alien voice. "Its my fault Eren's...d-dead! If I'd only manoeuvred the gear properly, I wouldn't have been in a situation for him to save me! I can't live with the weight of his death on my shoulders! I can't live with the guilt!" he screamed, slamming his palms to the cold stone floor.  
"Levi! Calm down!" The girl cried, grabbing both his shoulders and looking him in the eye. Levi fell silent, looking back, his lip trembling. His shoulders rose and fell quickly. "Levi, listen. There is nothing we can do. Eren is...he's dead." she said with a grave shake of the head. "Nothing can be done-I'm sorry."  
"Bring him back to life..."  
"What...Levi that's not possible."  
"Yes it is!" he snarled, baring his teeth, forcing more tears out of his eyes. "Reanimation of tissue! Using electrical sparks! Using another functioning and living heart! Hanje, it has been done! It can be done to Eren! PLEASE! I'm begging you...please try...please..." he sobbed, resting his head back on the floor. The girl let out a sigh and rubbed the back of her neck.  
"Ok...I'll try. For you. But Levi, sometimes, things are best unchanged."  
"I don't care!" he cried wildly, his face cast in darkness from the overhanging hair shading his face. "I want Eren alive dammit."  
The girl nodded and stood up. "We'd better get to work then."

 **End of Chapter 2**

 **A/N: And there you have chapter 2! I promise more will happen in the next chapter~so stay tuned!**


End file.
